Ames Kiwanis host 60th-annual Pancake Days event this weekend

Monday

More than 160,000 customers and an estimated 500,000 pancakes later, the Kiwanis Club of Ames will celebrate it’s 60th all-you-can eat Pancake Days Fundraiser this weekend.

It is scheduled for both Friday and Saturday at First United Methodist Church, 516 Kellogg Ave., in Ames.

Jim Converse has been a member of the Kiwanis Club since 1976. He said that the Pancake Days event is one of the events the group puts on throughout the year in order to help support community and youth activities around the area.

The first event was held in 1960, and it helped support the new pediatrics section of Mary Greeley Hospital and the Tiny Tots Swim program.

Since then, the event has grown and changed.

While it’s still all-you-can eat, they no longer hold a pancake eating competition. One memorable moment, Converse said, was in 1976 when Dick Wilson, of Boone, ate 35 pancakes — each 6 inches in diameter with butter and syrup — in 7 minutes.

“If you can visualize that in your stomach, or in anyone’s stomach,” Converse said. “We took 35 pancakes, stacked them on top of each other (and that was) pushing one foot in height.”

In order to prepare for the coming weekend, the group has ordered 18 cases of pancake mix, 160 pounds of sausage links, 400 pounds of eggs, 68 pounds of butter patties, 800 cartons of orange juice and 1,800 cartons of milk.

On Friday, the event will be from 4:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. On Saturday, the event will be from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. Tickets will cost $7 for ages 11-99, $3 for ages 6-10 and the event will be free for those younger than 6 or older than 100.

Everyone who attends the event on Saturday will also have the chance to buy Girl Scout cookies as they are leaving the church. Converse said this is the first year for the offering.

All proceeds go to help various community projects, such as the Miracle Field and All-Inclusive Playground, Ames Children’s Choirs, Lutheran Services of Iowa, Story County of United Way, Ames Little League, YSS, and Story Theater Company, just to name a few.

Converse said a lot of work goes into the event each year, and that the Kiwanis Club is very grateful to the various groups that offer to help set up, work during the event or clean up afterward.

“I will see one of the members bring his son or daughter down and help work,” Converse said. “These kids will be anywhere from 6 years old to college students, and it’s just really rewarding to see these kids come down and work. They want to participate, and they feel like they’re involved.”

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